Aluminium package recycling reaches highest level ever

Reduction of 540,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases

Based on current data compiled by GVM - Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung mbH, Mainz, aluminium packaging recycling in 2016 rose to 100,500 tonnes (2015: 96,000). At a market volume of 114,600 tonnes, this translates into an 87.7 percent rate of recycling.

"For the first time ever the material of more than 100,000 tonnes of used aluminium packaging was recycled in one year. The new packaging legislation establishes a stable framework, so it is already triggering investments in even more modern sorting systems. The benefits from this for aluminium recycling will continue to be felt," commented Hans-Jürgen Schmidt, Managing Director of DAVR - Deutsche Aluminium Verpackung Recycling GmbH, Grevenbroich, on GVM's figures. "Together with efficient use of materials and perfect product protection, a high standard of recycling makes an important contribution to looking after our resources. The recycling volumes achieved to reduce greenhouse gases by more than 540,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents annually."

"The aluminium economy in 2017 is in very good shape. Recycling plays a major role in how the German aluminium industry will perform in future. In times of diminishing raw material reserves and limited, but in particular expensive energy, the importance of recycling resources and raw materials is constantly increasing. A high rate of recycling, such as what is being done with aluminium packaging, demonstrates how successful the industry has been in closing gaps in the material cycle," says Christian Wellner, Executive Member of the Managing Board of GDA - Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie , in Düsseldorf.

Every year GVM analyses waste package volumes and recycling in Germany – also on behalf of the German Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt) in Berlin. The rates of recycling of the various dual systems as well as the return of used packages through other organisations and means of collection all flow into the analysis.